1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, and more particularly, a film loading structure using a Patrone.
2. Description of the Related Art
A camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.3-84531 or No.2-170156 is a so-called drop-in feed type camera in which a Patrone is dropped in the camera to load film. The camera includes a technological means into which a belt-like sheet, whose one end is fixed to a spool, is passed over an aperture and extends to a Patrone chamber, the distal part of the sheet engages the film, and then the film is pulled out of a Patrone and wound on the spool.
In general, various kinds of regulation are required in the process of constructing a camera: that is, lens focusing or exposure compensation.
Lens focusing is intended to regulate the position of a lens so that the lens will be in focus on a film surface. In a well-known method of lens focusing, a photoelectric collimator is used as a regulator and a mirror of the regulator is set at a position on the film surface. On the other hand, exposure compensation is intended to correct a photometric error or an exposure error for a shutter. In a well-known method of exposure compensation, a light receiver of a regulator is set at a position on a film surface.
In a conventional camera proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.3-84531 or 2-170156, the foregoing regulation cannot be achieved because a pull-out sheet interferes with the mirror or light receiver of a regulator. Before and after the regulation, excessive work is required respectively to take up the pull-out sheet using a spool and pull it out.
Proposals have been made for a structure for mounting a Patrone or feeding film in a drop-in feed type camera. The drop-in feed type camera has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos.2-96734, 2-114248, and 2-195335. In these disclosures, when a Patrone is mounted according to a drop-in procedure, auto-loading is achieved; that is, film is automatically passed over an aperture opening and fed to a spool.
The structure proposed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2-96734 is designed for a camera including a simplified mounting mechanism responsible for all processes from mounting of a Patrone to film loading. This camera includes a movable Patrone cover in which a Patrone is stowed, and a back cover for shielding the other part of the back of the camera except the Patrone cover. The back cover is united with a camera body.
The structure proposed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2-114248 is designed for a camera in which when a cartridge containing film is mounted in a cartridge chamber corresponding to a Patrone chamber, a specified amount of film is fed into a spool chamber and then loading is terminated. In this camera, a cover supported with an axis by the bottom of a camera is opened to mount the cartridge.
The structure proposed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2-195335 is designed for a camera in which when a cartridge containing film is mounted in a cartridge chamber corresponding to a Patrone chamber, a specified amount of film is fed to a spool chamber by means of an initial feed mechanism. In this camera, a door of the cartridge chamber, which is supported with an axis by the back of the camera, is opened to mount the cartridge.
In the camera disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2-96734, a Patrone cover is opposed only to a Patrone chamber and an aperture is blocked with the back cover of the camera. The back cover is united with a camera body. Lens focusing, exposure compensation, that is, photometric exposure compensation, or other regulation, which is required in the process of constructing a camera and in which a regulation jig is set at an aperture rail in an aperture opening corresponding to a film surface, is impossible to perform on a finished product of a camera.
Furthermore, if film feed is repeated, shavings of film adhere to film rails laid on edges of an aperture. Nevertheless, since the back cover of the aperture cannot be opened, the shavings cannot be removed.
By the way, the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos.2-114248 and 2-195335 have not described the back cover of an aperture. No consideration has been taken into the regulation to be performed by setting a regulation jig at the aforesaid aperture rail or the cleaning of the aperture rail.
The camera disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2-114248 has a structure in which a Patrone is dropped in from the bottom of the camera. A film wind and rewind gear array is arranged in the upper part of the camera body in terms of the positional relationship with the driving mechanisms for the gear array.
The gear array obstructs the arrangement of an auto-focusing unit, a viewfinder, a strobe, and other various units, which leads to an increase in the scale of a camera. In efforts to solve the aforesaid problems, if the gear array is arranged in the lower part of a camera and the Patrone cover is situated in the upper part of the camera, the parting line of the cover becomes visible from above. This impairs the appearance of a camera.
The camera disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.2-195335 is of the type that a Patrone is mounted from the side of the camera. The publication however does not clarify a means or structure for driving a spool of a Patrone for rewinding film. Assuming that a conventionally known rewind fork mechanism, which projects into a Patrone chamber, is employed, the disclosed method of mounting a Patrone straight from the side of a camera cannot be adopted.